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Fifty Years of Freedom 

WITH MATTERS OF VITAL IMPORTANCE TO BOTH THE 
WHITE AND COLORED PEOPLE OF 

THE UNITED STATES 
—BY- 
REV. FRANCIS J. GRIMKE, D. D. 

Delivered before the Presbyterian Council in the Madison Street 
Presbyterian Church, Baltimore, Maryland, October 17, 1913. 
' And before the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church, 
Washington, D. C, October 26, 1913. 




"Oh, speed the moment on 
When Wrong shall cease, and Liberty and Love 
And Truth and Right throughout the 

earth be known 
As in their home above." 



"Voice of a ransomed race, sing on 
Till Freedom's every right is won, 
And slavery's every wrong undone !" 



''Sail on ! The morning cometh, 
The port ye yet shall win ; 
All all the bells of God shall ring 
The good ship bravely in !" 



PRINTEID BY REQUESl" 



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DEC 17 1313 



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FIFTY YEARvS OF FREEDOM. 



LEVITICUS 25:11. 

A JUBILEE SHALL THAT FIFTIETH YEAR BE UNTO 

VOU. 



On tlie twenty-second of September. 18G2, President Lincoln 
issued his Preliminary Proclamation, which was in the nature of a 
notice to the states in rebellion, that unless they returned to their 
alleg-iance within a specified time the slaves within their borders 
would be declared free. The time expired without accomplishing^ 
the desired result. Accordingl\- on January 1. ISGH, the President 
issued his Supplemental Proclamation manumitting the slaves with- 
in the rebellious states. This did not. of course, set them free. 
They were still slaves and continued to be as long as the war lasted. 
Freedom did not come, as a matter of fact, until the surrender of 
Lee at Appomattox Courthouse April 9. 18(35. The effectiveness 
of the Proclamation depended ujwn crushing the rebellion. It was 
the victorious army of the North, under the leadership of General 
Grant, that gave efficacy to the l^roclamation. For all practical 
purposes, however, we ma}- assume that fifty years have elapsed 
since freedom came to us as a race. Fifty years is a long time 
in the histor)' of an individual, but not very long in that of a race. 
It is sufficiently long, however, to make it worth while for us to 
stop and think a little about what these fifty years have meant to 
us, and to see if there are any lessons in them that may be helpful 
to us as we enter upon the second half of a century of freedom. 

At the end of these fifty years we find: 

I. That we have made considerable progress. We are not 
now where we were fifty years ago. W^e are not as poor; we are 
not as ignorant ; we are not as tnorally debased. The plane upon 
which we stand now is higher. This jjrogress, in some respects, 
has been unparalleled. It is not necessary for me to speak in de- 
tail of what has been accomplished along educational lines. The 
record is before the whole country. No one can read the last re- 
port of the Commissioner of Education of the National Govern- 
ment without realizing that very marvelous changes for the better 
have taken place in the condition of the colored people. The facts 
as presented there, touching the number of public schools and pub- 
lic schcx)! teachers ministering to the intellectual wants of this race, 
as well as the large number of higher educational institutions hav- 
ing the same end in view, show conclusively that conditions now 
are very different and very much superior to what they were fifty 
vears ago. The large number of teachers, lawyers, doctors, min- 
isters, now to be found among us, as compared with fifty years 
ago. show the same thing. 

Nor need I speak of the changed condition that these fifty years 
have wrought in our economic condition. We are still poor; we 
pt'i]} h!\n fO^tf^^gJc U) mnkv ^})<U nipft, to keep the wolf from thf 



door; but there can be no doubt that we arc very much better off 
now than we were fifty years ago. ^^'c live in better houses; we 
dress better ; we eat better food ; . we own more property ; we have 
more on deposit in banks and other saving institutions; we have 
more invested in business; we travel more; we give more to re- 
ligion, to charity, to education. Even our worst enemies, how- 
ever, they might wish it were otherwise, will hardly be found af- 
firming that we are no farther on materially than we Avcre fifty 
years ago, that no substantial progress has been made by the race. 
In every direction the evidences are t(jo plainly apparent to be 
denied. The following statement, taken from the declarations of 
the National Business League at its recent session in Philadelphia, 
tells .in a word the simple story of what has been accomplished 
during these fifty years: "Starting half a century ago. without 
experience, without education, and without ])roperty. we to-day 
own and pav taxes on 20,000.000 acres of land, an area as large 
as the State of South Carolina; we own and control TOO insurance 
companies, 300 drug stores. (i I banks. 450 newsi)apers, and more 
than 20.000 other businesses of various kinds, and the total wealth 
of American Negroes in land, homes, schools, churches, and other 
forms of property, amounts to more than $700,00(1.000. 

"In submitting this brief record of material progess. we do not 
overlook the advance made in other directions. Fifty years ago 
more than 90 per cent of the race was wholly illiterate. To-day 
more than 70 per cent can both read and write." 

II. At the end of these fifty years we find the race still as- 
piring, still wishing to go forward. The progress that has been 
made is not something that has been forced upon the race against 
its will, as members of it are forced to ride in "Jim Crow" cars 
in the South; it is what the race has wished to do. It is not now. 
and never has been willing to remain in the condition in \vliich 
slavery left it. From the very beginning there has been the desire 
for better things, for enlarged opportunities. And it still has 
dreams and visions of larger and better things which it hopes some 
day to realize and towards which it is still pressing. Any one who 
i'^ calculating upon a retrograde movement on the part of the race 
will be sadly disappointed, if we may judge from what these last 
fifty years have revealed of capacity and aspiration on its part. 
The outlook, in some respects, may be dark, but it is not because 
of any lack of interest in matters material and educational, or be- 
cause of any eviden.ce of decay, of the growth of demoralizing ten- 
dencies in the race as a whole. There is, of course, in all races 
an idle, vicious, lawless, dare-devil, re])robate element. And such 
an element we find among us. especially in the urban population ; 
l)Ut the existence of such an element in the Negro race is no more 
evidence of a retrograde tendency on the part of the race as a 
whole, than the presence of such an element among the whites is 
an evidence of a retrograde movement on the part of the white 
race as a whole. The Negro race makes no claim to superiority 
over other races, It is simply hwman like other i%^u. TU^ ^aniy 



evidences , of depravity exhibited by other races , it also exhibits, 
neither ,nipie nor less. . As bad as .is.a.certq;in .eleinent among us, 
it"' is', no worse than the same element in, other races. The trend of 
the. race js' not. downward, but upward.; is not backward, but for- 
ward,,. Moral progress, of course, is always slower than any other 
kjiid of progress.. . .It is very much easier to train the head than to 
•tfaiii the heart ; it is very much easier to develop brain power than 
moral povver. The most difficult thing in the world is to keep 
men straight morally, is to build up, to develop a strong, upright, 
yirtuous character in men of all races. And this must be borne in 
mind .in .estimating the rnoral progress of the race as compared 
with. its intellectual and material advancement. If progress here 
has been slower, it is simply because that kind of progress is slower 
ci.mong all races. That the race is responding, in a measure, to the 
many agencies that are at work for its moral and spiritual uplift 
call hardly be doubted ; nor can there be any doubt that there is an 
element, and a steadily increasing element among us, that is laying 
more and more emphasis upon character, upon upright living. 

III. At the end of these fifty years, we find, and very naturally, 
as the result of the progress .that has been made in knowledge, in 
inaterial resources, in social advancement— a growing self-respect 
on the part of the race, which makes it very much more sensitive 
.as to. the deprivation of its rights, very much more restiye under 
injustice, oppression, and all invidious distinctions. It would be 
strange if it were not so. You cannot surround a man with condi- 
tions which tend to develop his manhood, his self-respect, and ex- 
pect, him to quietly acquiesce in any line of conduct which aims 
to. humiliate him, to force him down beneath the. level of what he 
feels to be his due, The oppressive, measures which the slave- 
ii.oiders took to. keep the. .slaves in an attitude of , subserviency by 
shutting; out all. light; .by kecjping .them, in darkness, by depriving 
them of all opportunities .of improvement, was the only safe, the 
only, wise course to pursue.. And even under such circumstances, 
under such rigid enforcement .of repressive m.easures,, the spirit of 
resistance .was '.not .entirely .extinguished. How much less is it to 
be expect.ed now'., .that v\/e. should quietly submit to unjust treat- 
ment, to. invidious .distinctioi.is !_ ...The^ race, is becomipg. more, and 
iiwf-e.'alivi?' to. k's.'Vigh;ts;.'a/M^^^ this. s6rise of what 

belongs to it, of vi^hat it is ehtitled to will incre'ase rather than 
diminish. There is no way by which this growing insistent de- 
mand for its rights on its part can be arrested except by recogniz- 
ing these rights, or, by forcing the race back into the condition of 
intellectual and moral darkness in which it was before the great 
era of freedom, or, by liilling it ofl:". either slowly by shutting it 
out of all productive industries, or by the wholesale massacre of it. 

The last two lines of action, on the part of the dominant race, 
are among the possibilities, but scarcely among the probabilities of 
the future. The Negro in this country can never, never again be 
forced back into the condition in which he was before the War. 
Nor is there any likelihood of a wholesale slaughter of the race. 



There is very little hesitancy or con^punctton about killing an in- 
dividual or a small group of individuals, but when it comes to 
making war on the race as a whole, with a view to exterminating 
it, even our worst enemies will hesitate, will hardly venture upon so 
violent a measure ; if not from a sense of right, at least, from fear 
of arousing the moral sentiment of the civilized world. _ The race 
is not likely to be less insistent in the future in demanding its rights 
than it is now at the end of the first half centurj^ of growth, of 
development. 

IV. At the end of these fifty years of freedom, in spite of the 
remarkable progress that we have made along all lines, we find 
race prejudice increasing instead of diminishing. The remarkable 
record of progress that we have made has had no appreciable in- 
fluence, so far as appears on the surface, in lessening the feeling 
of hostility to us. Race prejudice is stronger, is more bitter, more 
aggressive to-day than ever before. The enemies of the race are 
more united and more determined than ever to throw themselves 
across the pathway of our progress and to compel us by sheer brute 
force, whatever our attainments may be, into a position of perma- 
nent inferiority. Not content with what has already been done 
to humiliate us, it is now demanding segregation, is now insisting 
upon restricting the rights of colored people to live in certain pre- 
scribed sections of communities only. And it has become so em- 
boldened, so insolently aggressive that it is demanding segregation 
among the employees of the General Government itself. And its 
demand is being acceded to. Segregation, as a matter of fact, 
has already begun in some of the Departments of the Govern- 
ment. A bill recently introduced into Congress makes it a criminal 
offense to mix the races — to have white and colored clerks work- 
ing together in the same room. For nearly a half century white 
and colored clerks have worked side by side, and nothing was 
thought of it ; but now through this insane desire to humiliate a 
race, to impress it more and more with its inferiority, it is now 
proposed to make it a crime, not under laws enacted by Negro- 
bating Southern legislatures, but by the National Government 
itself, which is supposed to represent all the people, and to repre- 
sent equality of rights for all the people. That prejudice is in- 
creasing; that mote *n<^ niore iht effort is being made, and in 
ever-widening area?, to hedge us about with limitations, with rC' 
strictions which are not imposed upon other elements of the popu- 
lation, is manifest to any one whose eyes are open to what is going 
on in the country, not in one section only, but in all sections. 

V. Af the end of these fifty years, we find nearly all the rights 
guaranteed to us under the constitution, especially under the Four- 
teenth and Fifteenth Amendments, practically nullified in a large 
section of the country. In the South we have been disfranchised. 
We have no rights, civil or ix)litical, which the white man is bound 
to respect. The only good Negro in the estimation of the domi- 
nant .sentiment of the South to-day after fifty years of freedom, is 
the Negro who knows his place, and who is willing tp keep his 
place of subjection, of subordination to the white man. 



VI. At the end of fifty years, in spite of the facts just narrated, 
with a full knowledge of the gross injustice from which the col- 
ored man is suffering, the rest of the white people of the country, 
as a whole, arc found standing silently by looking on while this 
cruel and relentless warfare against the race is going on, with only 
occasionally a word of protest, or of mild remonstrance. The 
great mass of the white people in other sections of the Union, 
seemingly, cares nothing about what treatment is accorded to us. 
They don't seem to think that it is a matter about which they need 
to concern themselves. If there is any feeling at all it is rather 
one of sympathy with the oppressor. 

How white men of the North and West whose fathers fought 
and died to save the Union, and through whom freedom and the 
great amendments to the constitution came, can stand silently by 
and see the same rebel spirit that sought to destroy the Union set 
u{X)n the colored man and rob him of his rights — the very rights 
that came to him as the result of the blood shed by their fathers, I 
have never been able to understand. The sons of the rebels are 
still true to the principles for which their fathers fought and died. 
It is only in the North and West, among the descendants of the 
men who fought and died for the Union, that we find the prin- 
ciples for which their fathers stood, forgotten or cowardly sur- 
rendered. For these men to allow the colored man to be robbed 
of his rights by the descendants of those who fought to destroy 
the Union and to perpetuate slavery is to dishonor the memory of 
their fathers ; is virtually to say, that they were wrong, and that 
the rebels were right. Such an attitude is an affront to every 
loyal white man who fell during the war or who fought for the 
Union and the cause of freedom. It is amazing that the descend- 
ants of these brave men should be so little concerned alx)Ut matters 
for which their fathers were willing to lay down their lives. 
Shame on such descendants ! 

\'II. At the end of these fifty years, in spite of the indiffer- 
ence of the many we still have left, however, a remnant of men 
and women with' the spirit of the old abolitionists — a remnant of 
men and women who stand squarely, uncompromisingly for the 
principles of liberty, of equality, of fraternity for all ; and who, in 
one Way and another, have shown their sympathy with us in the 
efforts we are making to develop ourselves and to maintain our 
rights. The number is small ; but small as it is we are thankful for 
their symj)ath}- and support — thankful to know that we are not left 
in our' weakness to fight our battles alone. It encourages us to 
know that in the city of Boston, there is an A. E. Pillsbury and a 
Moorfield Storv ; in' the city of New ^'ork, an Oswald Garrison 
N'illard; in the' city of Cincinnati, a J. !>. Foraker; in the city of 
Philadelphia, a ]ohn Elmer Milholland ; in the city of Washington, 
a Wendell Phillips Stafford; in the city of Chicago, a Jane Ad- 
dams; in the United States Senate, a Moses E. Clapp. There are 
others equally worthy of mention who arr known to be our friends, 
our symp?jthi,?;er^. 'W >vell-wishers. 



VIII. At the lmkI of these fifty years of freedom, we find our- 
selves shut out of a^reat many avenues of employment. There are 
not many things that we ca'n.get to (lo. This is due mainly to race 
antipathy, to a'i^rowing indispositioii on the part of the whites, to 
work with us. The outlook in this' respect is not growing brighter, 
hut rather darker and darker. The disposition seems to be to 
Hmit our activities to the most menial occu]mtions.. or to shut us 
out entirely. This is especially true in the North; and the same 
sentiment is also growing in the South, and would grow very much 
more ra])idly than it has. hut for lack of white labor supply. 

IX. At the end of these fifty years of freedom, we find that 
one of the chief sources of demoralization to the race is strong- 
drink. A careful examination of the facts as they exist, and as 
they have existed during these fifty years will show that to it, more 
than to any other single influence, the bad record of crime which 
the race has made and is still making, is due. Tt has been an un- 
mitigated curse to the race, eating up its hard earnings, sapping 
its physical strength, engendering idle and vicious habits, and 
breaking down character at all ])oints. Thi)usands of our young 
men are finding their way into saloons and into gambling and 
other places of demoralization closely affiliated with them. Strong 
drink is responsible for most of the things that liave given us a 
black eye. that have furnished the eneniies of the race with the ma- 
terials which they have used in the assaults which they have made 
\\\>oii us from time to time. The intemperate Negro who is found 
lurking about these drinking places is the one who is taken as repre- 
ventativc of the race ; and in this way the race's gcx^d name has been 
iiijured and is still being injured. The race has not escaped during 
these fifty years the blighting effects of strong drink, especially, in 
the cities, is this fact most noticeable. 

X. At the end of these fifty years another fact should be noted 
in passing, we have grown in numbers, we have more than doubled 
m numerical strength. In spite of many adverse circumstances — 
in spite of disease and poverty, bad sanitary conditions and an 
enonnous death rate, the race has not only during these fifty years 
been able to maintain its own, but has steadily increased in nimi- 
bers. There is no evidence, at the end of the first half century of 
freedom, that the race is dying out; that it is deficient iti physical 
stamina. 

Such are some of the facts that stand out i!i this record of fift\- 
years. 

In the light of these facts, as we enter ui)on the second half of 
the century of freedom, there are a few things that we ought to 
im])ress ourselves with ; aiul a few things that ought to be said to 
<»ur white fellow citizens. 

I. A word to ourselves. Tlure are certain things that vve need 
\<> thoroughly impress ourselves with. 

(1). With the importance of being industrious. A lazy, thrift- 
less, indolent race is bound to go to the wall. The necessity of 
work on the part of everybody must be fully appreciated ourselves 



and must be carefully instilled into the young people who are to 
take our places when we are gone. "The man who will not work," 
the apostle says, "neither shall he oat." And this should be a funda- 
mental principle with us. The lazy man should be despised, should 
be driven out, should be shown no consideration. "The idle man's 
brain is the devil's workshop," is an old saying, but it is a true one ; 
and unless we continue to train the race to the idea of steady, fixed 
employment as the proper, normal condition for every one to sus- 
tain to the social organism of which he is a part, the devil will be 
sure to get his work in. and use the unemployed hand and brain 
for evil purposes. 

(2). • We need to impress ourselves with the importance of be- 
ing efficient. We must know how to do things; we must know- 
how to do things well. It isn't enough that a thing is done; it 
must be well done. Quality in w^ork is the thing that tells ; and 
more and more as competition increases we must impress ourselves 
with that fact. The old adage, "Whatever is worth doing at all, is 
worth doing well." we cannot t(io strongly impress ourselves with. 
IhetTiciency puts an individual of a race always at a disadvantage. 
It is skill; it is the ability to do well what is to be done that will 
always be preferred. It is the skillful mechanic; the skillful ar- 
tisan, the skillful stenographer and typewriter that is always pre- 
ferred, and that always wins out in the struggle of life, other 
things being equal. It is the fittest that survives in the industrial 
struggle and in every othei^ avenue of life. In planning for the 
future we must lay more and more stress therefore upon the work 
of properly qualifying ourselves for service in all the avenues of 
life. Carelessness, indifference here, the disposition to be content 
with shoddy work, will be fatal to our success. We are living in 
an age when the demand for efficiency, and efficiency of the 
highest order, is becoming more and more insistent. Unless this 
fact is recognized by us. and is allowed to shape our course, the 
struggle in which we are engaged is a hopeless one ; we are bound 
to go to the wall. 

('^). We must impress ourselves with the importance of being 
reliable, trustworthy. However skillful we may become, however 
efficient, unless we can be depended upon to do what we under- 
take to do, our efficiency will count for but little. If people can't 
depend on u-^; if our word counts for nothing: if we are deficient 
in a sense of obligation : if responsibilities weigh lightly upon us. 
we wmII be sure to lose the confidence of" others, and will be sure 
also to lose their patronage. Even the inefficient man who can be 
depended u])on will be preferred to the efficient man upon whom 
no dependence can be put. The two things must go together, 
reliability and efficiency, if efficiency is to be of any real advantage. 
This is a point which we need particularly to lay to heart, and to 
keep before us in the training of the yoiing. Unfortunately there 
is considerable "ground for just complaint against a large percentage 
of the race just here. It is a serious flefect. and one that ought 
to be remedied, that ought to claitji our immediate 'ind earnest at- 
tehtinn; • • . : ; .■ . 



Id 

(4). It is well fur us U) impress ourselves with the iiuix)rtance, 
with tlie transcendent importance of character. Character is the 
toundation upon which everything else must rest if it is to endure, 
if it is to be of anv permanent vakie in the elevation of the race. 
There must be a sound moral basis. In the lieart of the race there 
must be implanted the great principles of morality. The race 
must not onlv be taught, but must accept, must be governed by 
sentiments of" justice, of veracity, of purity, of honesty. It must 
make up its mind to square its life by the Ten Commandments and 
the Sermon on the Mount. There is nothing that can compen- 
sate for. or take the place of a sturdy, upright character. It isn't 
something which it would simply be well for us to possess, which 
it would be to our advantage to possess; it is absolutely indispensa- 
ble. There is no future for us, no honorable future for us, with- 
out it. This is the way we must feel; this is the way we must 
make our children feel! Character, high character, is not some- 
thing which we may or may not set before us as we face the 
luture, as we enter upon the second half of the century of free- 
dom ; but something which we must set definiteh- before us as of 
transcendent importance. There is no option left us if we have 
any regard to our highest and best interest, and the best interest 
of these who are to follow us. If the moral atmosphere in which 
the race lives and moves and has its being is not kept pure and 
iiealthful and invigorating it can never hope to become a strong, 
\irilc, self-respecting race, or a race that will be likely to com- 
mand much respect from others. The race has. be it said to its 
credit, all along attached some importance to character, but the 
emphasis which it jmts upon it must steadily increase. We must 
come, more and more, to realize the fact tliat while know-ledge is 
l)ower, and while there is power in the possession of material 
things, that the greatest jxjwer lies in character, in a strong, sturdy, 
uj)right, virtuous manhood and womanhood. 

(5). In this connection it is well for us also to remember that 
the agencies that are most helpful in the development of character 
• ire the family, the church, the schrK>l. I heard the President of 
the I'oard of Education of one of our most important cities say. 
not long ago, after listening to an address highly eulogistic of the 
public schools, that in his judgment the greatest asset of the nation 
IS the family. And in this I think he was right. He meant, of 
course, the family properly cr>nstituted. with the right kind of 
man and woman at the head of it. The im}X')rtance of the home, 
as an educational force, is seen in the fact that the children begin 
life in the home, and that they are under the almost exclusive in- 
t^uence of the home when the young life is most plastic, is most 
easilv motdded. Where this home influence is jnire, elevating", 
ennobling, there is no other agenc\ that is comparable with it. 
'!"he church and scl]ool ai •-<■», however, are very important agencies. 
\nd I have called attention, in this connection, to these three in- 
"■titutions in r)rder that, as we face the future, we may recognize 
ihcir importance, and may come to feel more and more the neces- 



11 

sity of improving them, and of utilizing them in the development 
of the race. We need better homes and must have them — homes 
that will not be indifferent to intellectual culture and material 
comforts, but that will value more highly than either the things 
that make for purity of heart and life. We need better churches 
and must have them — churches that will be more concerned about 
properly instructing the people in the knowledge of the Word of 
God, with a view to spiritualizing their lives, to lifting them to 
the high plane of Christian living and thinking, rather than with 
endless entertainments and schemes for money getting. We need 
better , schools — schools in which the teachers will recognize that 
their vocation is not simply lo train the head, or chiefly to train 
the head, but the heart also — schools in which the teachers will 
recognize the opportunities which their calling affords of giving 
shape and direction to the budding and expanding lives entrusted 
to their care, and who are gladly availing themselves of these op- 
jx)rtujiities. There are some teachers, of course, who are doing 
this, who are making their influence felt in character building; but 
there are others who are indifferent to these opportunities — who 
;ire not noaking their influence felt and who feel that it is no part 
of their business to do so. Not long ago I was speaking to a 
school official in one of our cities about the great opportunities 
that teachers have for this kind of work; and his reply was, "Yes, 
but many; of our teachers teach only for the money they get, and 
they Hyant the money simply to decorate their bodies." How far 
this is ^rue of our teachers as a class I do not know ; but that it is 
true of some of them I have not the slightest doubt. What we 
need, |J)erefore, as we face the future, is to endeavor to get the 
active and hearty cooperation of all the teachers in all of our 
schools in this higher mission of character building in their pupils. 
The teachers, if they can only be made to see it, hold a place second 
in importance only to the home in the service which they can 
render in the stupendous task which confronts us as a race. We 
must all of us, as we begin this new half century of freedom, be 
more thoughtful alxjut our homes, more concerned to make them 
proper habitats for the rearing of children ; more concerned about 
our schools and the character of the men and women who are in 
charge of them ; and more concerned about our churches to sec 
that they are properly manned, properly conducted, properly sup- 
ported by our presence and by our financial aid. None of these 
institutions can be allowed to deteriorate, to fall behind, without 
affecting unfavorably the progress of the race. 

(6). It is important that we impress ourselves with the evil 
of strong drink, and that we set definitely before us the work of 
educating the race with reference to the poisonous nature of 
alcohol and its baleful effects. Sobriety, abstinence from all alco- 
holic liquors as a beverage, we must be at special pains to impress 
upon all — old and young alike. We must organize temperance so- 
cieties; we must encourage those that are already in existence; we 
must gather the children into temperance bands, in our Sabbath 
scbpoU an4 in our day schools as far as may be possible. In the 



12 

new halt c.enturv upoii .which .\ye have no^y enteiieij, >ye jnust .^rrply 
resolve, and must bend' ev'ery "effort towards lessening the eyil of. 
strong drink among us. At the, end of the present half century, jet 
us hope that there will 'be les^ intemperance among._us ;/tliat a 
larger number of homes among us Will be '/definitely -.comjTiitted. to 
total abstinence, than we find to-day. . Whatever we ean do'to 
lessen this. evil; whatever we can do, to produce a sober;' temjjei:a.te 
peoi)le we must dofand we niust all d.p. our part to secure this- re- 
sult. Evorv member of the race is 'interested in, or, at least,, oiight 
to be, in saving if from the curse, of , intemperance." not only, be- 
cause it will help the racp economically and -morally, but,, also, he- 
cause it will set it in a. better light before its enemies, it will tcike 
away one serious ground of. complaint against it. ,_• 

(7). We nnist not allow" ourselves to become discouraged,, be- 
cause of the obstacles which our enemies are constantly throwing 
across our pathway. These obstacles.. jf we are made of the right 
stuff, will help to' strengthen us. to make us more resolute, more 
determined. It is in breasting, opposition, in overcoming difficul- 
ties that we develop, strength. ■.•■'. 

(8). Nor should we allow (nirselvcs to beconie enibittered .In: 
the mean and persistent opposition of our enemies ; by. the ;Studied 
efforts >hat they arc ever, making' to insult and humiliate us. Un- 
less we are watchful, unless we are tolerably .sane,' it i.s so easy to 
allow such things to rankle in our breasts, to engender feelings- of 
bitterness and hatred. Xatural'.as it is, however, w.e. must resist 
it. It is bad bu?iness for an iii.(hvidual or.a race, to allow if^elf. to 
become embittered .against .another .individual or race, ., Such .a 
spirit will destroy our own happine.-vs, o.ur own i)eace of mind. a.i)d 
will not help to win' over our eiiemies. Out of. a spirit of jiuitual 
hatred no good can possiblv come to either race.. The . result is 
bound to be evil; and the evi'l will grow as the hatred grcnvs.,..- ,.•..■ 

If we are to fight successfully, fight in the most effectiv.e way, 
we mu.st be calm, we must not be spurred . on by. bitternes.s, .hv 
hatred. l)ut bv the consciousness. that what .we. are contending f(xr is 
right, and, therefore, is best for all. even for those agaj..ns.t whoni 
we are contending, who arc foolishly trying to ob.struct our. ..\yay. 
Let us pos.sess our souls in patience ;' let us be calm, self-ppssesised' 
These enemies who are fighting, us deserve our pity... Tlie qpurse 
which they are pursuing, in .the long run. will prove more in- 
jurious to them than to us. The. inore they fight us. the more they 
resist us, the more they seek to insult ancl humiliate us. .the inor.e 
are thev injuring themselves, the. more are they sinking to lower 
levels, the less are they becoming worthy of the. respect of' decent, 
right-thinking people. We may .suffer in our feelings; .yye may 
be deprived of our rights for a time; but they, are s.uffer;ing_in a 
v.'av that is eating away the only thing of real value— ^th? only 
thing that is worth having — character. ,We, may suffer, Kuttjic 
i.cn:iltv which we pav is not ncai: so dear,' so costtv as the penalt\- 
which they .a.re paying. .. ... ... ; ;.,,"',,..;.; r.-.. . -,. ,:!.v-... 

There is something' really, pathetic in'thq spectficle -here 'pre- 



13 

?e]jt:ed,.,of vagt numbers, of. people claiming to be intelligent, claim- 
in^'.tp jle civilized, sonic claiming even to be Christians, allowing 
theriiseives to be dominated, to be controlled absolutely by such an 
nt.t.erly ignoble sentiment .as race prejudice. You can't help ask- 
inV'yp.urself the question. Can these people really be sane? Jesus, 
f;-e".art.. told, wept over Jerusalem. As he saw her condition — 
.{a^y her- m her blindness, stupidity, obstinacy— as he saw the end 
to>ya,fBs. .which she was madly rushing, it touched his great heart 
wiffi '•Rity . ali'd wrung tears from his eyes. And this is the way, it 
seeii}'§ to niq. tljat any right thinking man. any man who has a heart 
of pity j-nust ie.el as he looks out on the multitudes in this land who 
are 3'ielding' themselves up to the ...sway of this bitter, degrading, 
ISlegro-h4"ting. spirit ; as he sees how they are being driven more 
and more into doing so many utterly contemptible things ; and, 
when he remembers also that the reaping is to be as the sowing. 
It Is easy enough to hate such people, if you don't stop to think; 
hui when .you remember that they are human beings; that they are 
inVier the dominion of moral laws tliat are just as inexorable in 
their op'er.a;tions'.as are physical laws; and remember also, under 
these lawfe, w'hat the result is sure to be, there is no mom for ha- 
tred., f.or, bitterness, but only for pity, for the deepest commisera- 
tion. The thing that we ought to do, and, that I wish very much 
that we would, do, and do more than we have been in the habit of 
doing, is to .pray for these misguided, unfortunate, greatly to be 
pitied individuals who are fighting us. The vSpirit of God can 
open bjiiid eyes, can unstop deaf ears... can soften the hardest 
hearts!.'. The S^pirit of God can regenerate, can give an entirely 
new bias or direction to character and life. And this is what is 
needed. These ^people need to be changed, to be .set right. The 
possibjlitv .of "such a change, both for their sakcs and for ours, 
shoijltt .lead us^,to work and pray earnestly for it. 

(■f)j!".Xt is a.iso well for us, as we face the future, not to be de- 
ceived* not to, be misguided by the assumption upon which some of 
our race'.leaders .-have been proceeding. It has been assumed by 
spme .that, the reason why we are treated as we are is because we 
Qre, poor, _ because we are ignorant, because we are degraded, in a 
word, 'because of our condition; and, that if we will only improve 
ourjelves— -will only, work hard and better our condition — will get 
more kpov.'ledge. more, inoney, more character, it will be all right 
In* tlie. . ep-d. Those who act upon this assumption think that the 
\yi§!e"thing for us to do, therefore, is to lose sight entirely of the 
manner iii w-h'ich we are treated, to take no account of it, to make 
ho aclo about it, to' bear it patiently and give ourselves up entirely 
t,o. .the ..wo.rk of .improving ourselves. _ ,This is what they counsel; 
this is ffi^ way, they say,. this race- problem is to be solved. 
.'T^QQk'e'd.' at, in the. abstract this seems to be very plausible. The 
;]_:j'sjjm{uipiV that, if .w'e improve ourselves; if we show ourselves 
{yiirxi^y'iji Vging treated properly, that we would be, is what would 
I'^atufdllv 'be' expected. Unfortunately, however, the facts are all 
against, it, •■ Tilings haye not. panned out as might have been ^y.- 



14 

pected, under this theory of race adjustment. The race problem, 
as we understand it, may mean one of two things. It may mean 
the problem of the race's development, which would include all the 
a.ijjencics tn he employed in securing this result ; or it may mean 
the i)roblein of getting the white man to behave himself — getting 
him to treat the colored man properly, as a man, as a brother, as a 
citizen, having common and equal rights with himself. That the 
race's development may go on without at all affecting favorably 
the white man's altitude towards it, is clearly evident from what is 
i^'oing on about us, and from the experience of the last forty or 
fifty years. During these years the colored people have steadily 
improved along all lines ; and yet the same feeling of antipathy, of 
hostility to them exists. There is no indication of a desire to treat 
them any better. The progress that they have made has counted 
for nothing in their favor; has not lessened, in the least, the oppo- 
sition to them. 

A short while ago a Congressman from Louisiana, J. B. Aswell, 
introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to segregate col- 
ored employees of the Government. Among other things in pre- 
senting his bill, he said : 

"Every informed and right-thinking white man, while s>Tnpa- 
thizing with and anxious to help the Negro in his place, recog- 
nizes the necessity of preserving the integrity and supremacy of the 
white race. The purpose of this bill is to check a bad tendency 
in this country, before it is too late, and cause thinking people 
everywhere to find themselves in relation to the race problem and 
thus deal fairly and give justice to both races. The bill seeks to 
hel[) the Negro by making him proficient in his own sphere and by 
corrcttiiig a false idea of his proper circumscribed position in the 
republic, and, at the same time, relieve the white man in the pub- 
lis service from the intolerable humiliation of being compelled, in 
order to earn his daily bread, to work side by side with an ob- 
jectionable people, the continuation of which practice must result 
in irreparable injury to both races, and ultimately destroy the 
efficiency of the public service. Such practices will drive the self- 
respecting proficient white man and woman from the civil service 
of the Government." 

The bill provides, 'That the heads of all executive departments 
shall issue all such orders as shall be necessary to secure in all 
branches of the civil service of the United States to the utmost 
extent consistent with public interests, the segregation of civil em- 
ployees of the white race from those of African blood or descent, 
in the performance of their services." 

It also provides that, "In all executive departments within the 
District of Columbia, clerks or employees shall not be required to 
occupy the same office or work rooms with clerks or employees of 
African blood or descent; nor shall any white clerk or employee 
be placed under the orders, direction, or supervision of anv person 
of African bloo<l or descent." 

It also provides that, "In the railway mail service of the Post- 



15 

oftice Department white clerks shall not, except in cases of emer- 
gency, be ordered to duty in the same mail car with postal clerks 
of African blood or descent." 

You will notice that the course which he recommends here, and 
which he seeks to enforce by law, is not because the Negro is ig- 
norant, not because he is inefficient, not because he is ungentle- 
manly in his deportment ; but simply because he is a Negro, or 
has Negro blood in his veins. The fact that he is in the service 
at all proves that he isn't ignorant, that he isn't inefficient, for he is 
there as the result of civil service examination. It makes no dif- 
ference how much he knows, how efficient he is, how gentlemanly 
he, is, the thing that makes him objectionable is that he is a Negro, 
or js of Negro descent. It doesn't make any difference how highly 
cultivated he is. it becomes, in the language of the Representative 
from Louisiana, "an intolerable humiliation for a white man to be 
compelled, in order to earn his daily bread, to w'ork side by side 
with an objectionable people." It isn't the condition of the people; 
it isn't their backwardness that discounts them, but the fact that 
they are of .'Xfrican blood or descent. 

Senator Vardaman, in his insane ravings over the nomination 
by ^President Wilson of Adam E. Patterson, a colored man from 
dklahoma, as Register of the Treasury, speaks in the same strain. 
He says: 

"The apix)intment of Patterson is a most unfortunate thing. 
Two races cannot mix ; it is contrary to the laws of nature. I am 
not acquainted with Patterson. It is not he, personally, I am fight- 
ing; it is the principle involved. I do not think any government 
office should be held by a Negro. I think the defeat of this ap- 
pointment of a Negro is of more importance than the passage of 
the tariff bill and the enactment of currency legislation. It rises 
like a mountain peak above all other questions of the day. It 
seems that the appointment was made in view of Patterson's cam- 
paign activities in the interest of Democracy. I do not think much 
of the policy that pays party obligations at the expense of the 
Ijurity of the greatest race on the globe. I shall fight every Negro 
appointment that is made." 

It is not necessary, he admits, to know anything personally of 
the candidate — anything about his character or qualifications; it is 
enough to know that he is a Negro or of Negro descent, to dis- 
qualify him for any office under the Government. And this, he 
affirms, is the sentiment of all Southern senators. Even a man 
like President Wilson, with all his brains and culture and high 
Christian character, or rather, I would say, avowal of high Chris- 
tian principles, after nominating Patterson for the ix>sition per- 
mitted him to withdraw from the contest in the face of Vardaman's 
declaration, "No government office should be held by a Negro." 
And instead of sending in the name of another colored man, in 
order to rebuke that sentiment, he sent in the name of an Indian, 
whicli was a virtual acceptance, on the part of the President, of 
the position taken by Vardaman and other Negro-hating senator^. 



16 

And the fact tliat a white man \\ as named ahnost immediately af- 
terwards 'for the post at Hayti shows how completely the Presj- 
dent has surrendered to the 'dictation of Southern Negro Haters: 
if the progress we liaxc made during these fifty years has had 
so little effect upon a man like W'oodrow Wilson, how much is it 
likelv to have upon the average white man?' Any one who has 
kept' in touch with the movements of the last half century that have 
had to do with this vexed question, cannot fail to, see that the two 
l)hases of the race issue have very litile to do with each other. 
The development within the race has had no appreciable influence 
in creating within the white man a disposition to behave any better 
t(nvards the colored man. to accord to him his rights, to treat him 
as a man, as a citizen, as a brother. So far as we may judge from 
the experiences of the last fifty years and from what is transpiring 
about us to-day, there is no hope of things ever being any better 
as the result of race improvement. It is right, of course, for us 
to make the most of our opportunities, and to press forward as 
rapidlv as possible along all lines of endeavor, material, intellec- 
tual, moral, spiritual; but let us not be deceived, let us not imagine, 
though we ourselves will be greatly benefited by such a course, that 
the attitude of the white man towards us will change for the better in 
consequence. There may be a change in him, let us hope that there 
mav be, but if it comes at all, it v.dll come in some other way. It ^Yill 
not be because we are improving ourselves, because we are getting 
to be more intelligent, are getting more property, getting on, 'a 
higher social plane, getting to be more virtuous, more self-respect- 
ing. That kind of thing has little or no influence in favorably in- 
clining the average white man towards the Negro. Tt makes no 
diflference what he has, what he has achieved, what he has made 
of himself, he is still only a Negro, is still undesirable, is still to be 
hedged about by limitations and restrictions. 

Senator \'ardaman in his "high-blown, pride" speaks of the white 
race as "the greatest race on the globe. "' It the Senator is a speci- 
men of its greatness, the so-called inferit)r races need not concern 
themselves very much about catching up with it in the march of 
progress. As a matter of fact, there are scores of colored men 
who, in intelligence, in brain power, in scholarship, in all the ele- 
ments that go to make up true manhood, are superior to Mr. 
\'ardaman.. The only respect in which the Senator shows any 
superioritv, in the sense of surpassing others, so far as 1 can see. 
is in the .exhibition of a coarse, vulgar. an<l bnUal spirit. The 
white race may be the greatest race on tlie globe, but the assertion 
of that fact would come with a little better grace from one who re- 
flects i1;s greatness rather than from one who is a reproach to it, 
who discredits it. The wliite i)eoi)lc themselves would hardly 
select. Mr. X'ardaman as a specimen liy which it would care to be 
nidged in this or in future generalit)ns. The Xegro may be in- 
ferior, greatU' .inferior to the while race, but there woidd have to 
be some better, specimen of the w bite r;u-c than Mr. A'ardaman to 
prove it. •., My purpose, ho^veyer, is not to. criticise;; ^l^^ honorabj^- 



i 



'Senator from Mississippi. I h;ive mentioned his name in tins coh- 
necttqn merely as illustrative of the aggressive, ever-growing spirit 
of face hatred, of race antagonism, Which still confronts us after 
fifty years of freedom. 

(10). In this connection we ought to impress ourselves also, as 
we leave the first half century of freedom and enter upon the sec- 
ond half, with the fact that God is and that he is a present heli> 
in time of need. We need to emphasize, niore strongly than we are 
in the habit of doing, the importance of religion as a factor in this 
race struggle in which we are engaged. In Exodus 14, we are told 
that after Pharaoh had given the children of Israel permission to 
leave Egypt, and after they had left, he repented, changed his mind, 
and started in pursuit of them with all his hosts, his chariots and 
horsemen, to bring them back. \\ c are also told that when the 
children of Israel saw them approaching they were terrified. And 
then occurs this passage : "And the angel of the Lord, which went 
before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and 
the pillar of cloud went from before their face, and stood behind 
them : and it came between the camp of the Egyptians, and the 
camp of Israel, and it was a cloud of darkness to them, but it gave 
light by night to these : so that the one came not near the other all 
the night." God stood between Israel and the enemy. And that 
is just where we want to have him stand, between us and our ene- 
mies. What we need to do is to rest in the Lord, is to put our 
trust in him. He is more than a match for our enemies. The 
song which Moses and the children of Israel sang after they had 
seen the advancing hosts of the enemy approaching was. 

"The Lord hath triumphed gloriously. 
The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 
The Lord is my strength and song, 
And he is become my salvation." 

And if we trust him. if we make him our hope, we will be able 
in the end to sing the same song; we, too. will triumph gloriously. 

In the voyage of the apostle Paul to Rome the ship was caught 
in a terrible storm. For fourteen days and nights it raged. The 
wind blew furiously; heav}', dark clouds shut out the liglit of "tlie 
sun by day and of the stars by night. There seemed no hope of 
escape. Of the nearly three hundred souls on b?)ard, all except 
one man were filled with the most appalling apprehension. That 
man was the apostle Paul. During all those awful days and nights 
he alone was calm, self-possessed ; he alone showed no fear, no 
apprehension. And why? It was because the angel of the Lord 
had stood by him and had said to him. "Fear not, Paul ; thou must 
be brought before Caesar: and lo, God hath given thee all them 
that' sail with thee." And it was because he believed what the angel 
had said to him. The fierceness of the storm, the raging of the 
elements, the appalling darkness that enveloped them, had no dis- 
quieting eftect upon him. It was the triumph of faith — faith that 



18 

saw safety, and rested in sweet content in the face of the raging 
storm. And faith in (iod is what wc need if we are not to become 
discouraged in face of the gathering hosts of darkness, in face of 
ihe constant accessions to the ranks of the enemy. David once 
exclaimed. 

"Jehovah, how are mine enemies increased! 
Many are they that rise up against me." * 

But he comforted himself with the thought, 

"But thou, O Jehovah, art a shield about me; 
My g\ory and the lifter up of my head." 

And wc may find comfort inthe same thought. Let this new 
h.alf century be one of abounding trust in God; let us more and 
more accustom ourselves to dwell in the secret place of the Most 
High, under the shadow of the Almighty. 

II. In leaving this first half centur}' of freedom and in enter- 
ing u[x>n the second half, a word also ought to be said to the white 
people of the country. There are four things that I want to say 
to them: 

(]). I want to remind them of the fact that we came here 
originally through no volition of our own. We were brought here 
again.st our will, and brought here for purely selfish purposes, to 
'^erve their interest. We are not responsible for being here — the 
responsibility is with the white race. That fact ought to be re- 
membered by them. If our presence in this country is undesirable, 
as is frequently alleged, it is not for the white man to set that up 
as an excuse or justification for ill-treating us. If it had not been 
for their selfishness we would not be here. If our presence here 
is an evil, they are not the ones to complain, they at least, ought" to 
be willing quietly to accept it as it is an evil of their own making. 
This is one of the things that has always seemed to me to render 
the treatment of the Negro by the white man particularly contemp- 
tible. After forcing him away from his home against his will ; 
and after getting out of him all that he could without compensa- 
tion, when that is no longer possible, then to turn upon him and 
tell him to get out, that he is no longer wanted, is conduct of which 
even savages ought to be a.shamed. Whenever you are tempted to 
ill-treat the colored man, to deny him a man's chance in the race 
of life, remember that }OU brouj^dit him here, and that the least 
that you can do, the least that you owe him, is to treat him de- 
cently, humanely. 

(2). I want to say, that for two Inmdred and fifty years you 
had our unrcf|uited toil; we tilled your soil, we gathered your 
crops, we cut <Io\vn your forests, we built your houses, made ycnir 
clothes, worked for you in manifold ways. We worked for you 
in the days of slavery, and you seemed satisfied with our lalxjr; 
whv do \'ou withhi^d vour work from us now ? ^^'^hv do yovi no^- 



19 

shut us out of employment? We are just as able, and just as 
xv-illing to work now as then. Work is what we need ; work is 
what we must have if we are to support ourselves in decency, if we 
arc to live honestly and honorably. You are bound by every con- 
sideration of justice, of fair play, to make a place for uS, to give 
us the same chance that is given to others to support themselves 
and their families. For two hundred and fifty years we worked 
for you, als your slaves; are you unwilling to help us now that we 
are free and are working for ourselves? You, who brought us 
here; you, who are responsible for our presence here, ought to 
want to encourage us to be industrious, to be self-respecting. 

(3). I want to remind you of the fact that we are now free; 
that we arc American citizens ; that under the laws we are entitled 
to the same rights and privileges as yourselves. vSlavery no longer 
exists in this country — all are now free men. What is freedom 
to mean to us? Why were we made free? Why were the fetters 
stricken from our limbs? Why were we made citizens? Why 
have schools been provided for our intellectual development ? Whv- 
emancipation at all, if we are not to have the same chance as other 
freemen? What is the value of freedom if it doesn't carry with 
it the guarantee of protection in the enjoyment of all rights that 
are common to all citizens? Is freedom to mean one thing to the 
white man, and another thing to the colored man? Freedom and 
citizenship cannot mean one thing to a white man and another to a 
black man in a republic without creating needless and endless 
trouble; and without in the end destroying the spirit that is essen- 
tial to the perpetuity of republican or democratic institutions. Is 
it wise? Is it consistent? Is it the part of true patriotism to con- 
tinue longer to make invidious distinctions between citizens who 
must forever live side by side, and upon the mutual co-operation 
and sympathy of whom, the welfare and happiness of the whole 
will depend? Is it wise to encourage, to help fan the flame of 
race prejudice from which no good can possibly come, but only 
evil, and evil more and more as it is encouraged? Isn't it a great 
deal bette'r to use a little common sense, now that we are here, now 
that we are here to stay, now that we are free, now that we are 
citizens, „to recognize us as such, and to accord to us the same 
trcatmerit'as is accorded to others? One thing you may be assured 
of, we T^^ill never be satisfied with anything less. Unless these 
rights be conceded ; unless we be treated as we have a right to ex- 
pect you to treat us, this friction, which is doing so much to de- 
moralize the whole country, will continue. Is it not better for the 
thoughtful, sane, sober, right-thinking men aiul women among }()u 
to call a halt to those, who, keeping the humiliation of the Negro 
before them as their chief aim, are willing to sacrifice cvery-thing 
else to it? The humiliation of the Negro; the hedging of him 
about with degrading restrictions; the forcing him down into a 
position of subordination, of inferiority, even if you should suc- 
ceed in doing it, after all, is it worth the i)rice that must be paid ; 
that you are paying? The policy of giving the Negro 3 man's 



20 



chance in the Republic; of treating him*' with the same considera- 
tion as others are treated, has vastly more good iii it for the Re- 
luiblic than the measure of repression, of enforced subordination, 
of invidious distinctions" upon which you ai-e now insisting. Siich 
a policy will make the Negro forget that he is a Negro,_ and will 
lead him to think of himself simply as ah American citizen; will 
stimulate his patriotism; will render it no longer necessary for h'lrii 
to be particularly concerned about race interests, but will leave him 
free to be concerned about those interests which are common" to 
all the people. Such a policy will also set free tor higher "and 
nobler uses all the ability, the energy, the resources that are now- 
being expended in efforts to keep the Negro dow'n aind which will 
be of incalculable benefit to the Nation. Think of how much time, 
how much thought, how much energA' are used up in this needless 
race friction, and how much the Nation is losing by this misuse "b'l 
valuable time, thought, energy! If you, who are fighting the 
TsTgg-j-o.— you who are determined to reduce him to a pariah class, 
would on'lv turn your thought and energy towards upbuilding the 
Kepublic-^materially. intellectually, morally, spiritually.— towards 
fighting those evils that are really endangering the Republic;— 
greed, corruption, impurity, lawlessness, intemperance; lioW much 
more 'valuable your services would be. There never w;as a time 
when the Republic needed your services more than if does to-day, 
in harmonizing the elements of its population, in encouraging a 
spirit of fraternitv, of brotherhood. It is not the function of a 
patriot, of a lover of his country to array class against class, race 
against race; that is the roll of the demagogue, the low paniierer to 
passion and prejudice for selfish ends. This race friction ought to 
cease; and it will cease if you will do the right thing; rf'-ypii' will 
listen to reason and common sense. It is not the Negro that is 
keeping up the friction, but the white" man.' ' . '. ■' .;. . ' 

(4). 1 want to say to those who are friendly to us; wdio be- 
lieve that w-e have rights under the constitution, and that those 

rights ought to be recognized: 

(]). We are profoundly thankful to you for your sympathy, "for 
your good-will, and for all' that you have done to cheer arid "encour- 
age us; Some of you have taught in our .schools,^ have worl<ed anioiig 
us as missionaries, have contrilmtecT- qf'yotir 'meSnS t(5 aixVti5*".m 
our education, in our development ; for all of which we are gratefiif. 
(2). We wish very much that you would be a little niore out- 
spoken in vour symj)athy. We have, it may be, many silent friends 
among you. It is better, of course, in some respects to have a 
silent friend than to have no friend at all. Such friends constitute 
a reserve force which may serve us well at some future time, in an 
emergency which may arise unexpectedly. The friendship, how^- 
ever, that counts for most, that is of most value, is the friendship 
that is known, that openly, publicly expresses itself. The im- 
])ortance of thus openly showing your sympathy, your friendship 
is to be seen in that in this way public sentiment is made and in- 
fluenced. The people who speak out, or; who act out their sefiti- 



21 

ment are the ones who count in shaping, in moulding- pubhc senti- 
ment. Our enemies are never silent. The opposition, the hos- 
tihty which they feel is never concealed, it always comes to the 
surface, always expresses itself. And this is one reason why they 
have influence, why they are so potential. Take the segregation 
idea which has been projecting itself upon the attention of the 
country. When the agitation was started, e. g., in the city of 
Washington, there were many meetings held in various parts of 
the city atnong the whites ; but they were all in the interest of segre- 
gation, they were gotten u]) and managed by those who wanted to 
force this humiliation upon the colored people. I cannot believe 
that the purpose of these meetings met the approval of all tbe 
white people of the capital ; I know that it did not of some of 
them. And yet no meeting was held ; no public expression was 
given to indicate that such was the case, that there was any dis- 
senting opinion among the whites. Not one white church ; not one 
ministerial association ; not one Christian Endeavor society, nor 
any other organization among the whites, including the Young 
Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Asso- 
ciation, gave expression to any dissenting opinion. So far as any 
jniblic expression was concerned, it looked as if the entire white 
population approved of the movement to segregate the colored 
people in street cars and otherwise. What we are asking of >ou, 
our white friends, is to show your colors, is to be just as ])ro- 
nounced in your sympathy for us as our enemies are pronounced 
in their opposition to us. If you will do this; if you will let tbe 
people about you know where you stand, it will greatly help mat- 
ters. Lowell, in his sonnet on Wendell Phillips, says, 

"He saw God stand upon the weaker side,^ — 
And humbly joined him to the weaker part." 

And it is necessary that this be done— that the weaker part be 
joined, and joined openly as he did. if it is to be strengthened. 
There is a good deal in numbers. Somehow people have a great 
deal more respect, are inclined to be very much more considerate 
of a d^use that has many adherents, or whose adherents are in- 
creasing in numbers. Where we are silent we are never counted. 
Elijah is sometimes criticised for his so-called pessimistic state- 
ment when he was running from Jezebel — "The children of Israel 
liave forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain 
thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only am left." In this 
be was mistaken. It seems there were seven thousand who had not 
bowed the knee to Baal. But, as some one said, no one knew it, 
and therefore they counted for nothing. Now we don't want our 
friends among the whites who want us to get our rights, who think 
that we ought to be treated fairly, justly, to count for nothing; we 
don't want them to be so silently sympathetic that no one will know 
oi it. We want them to be outspoken ; to be openlv for us, and 

thtts help to mould publk ^entimgnt in awr hvor. H wouU Uavo 



2^ 

helped greatly if. during this segregation agitation there had been 
some meetings held among the whites giving expression to a differ- 
ent sentiment. Even a simple protest from a single individual 
helps. A letter like the one published not long ago by the Hon. A. 
E. Pillsburv of Boston, Massachusetts, declining to pay his annual 
dues to the treasurer of the National Bar Association, and giving 
as his reason his positive and em])hatic dissent from the action of 
the Association in discriminating against colored men. is bound to 
have its effect in educating public sentiment, in helping to break 
down invidious distinctions. Carl Schurz, in his Life of Henry 
Cla\-. in speaking of the Abolitionists, says, "The immediate effect 
of their work has frequently been much underrated. They served 
to keep alive in the Northern mind that secret trouble of con- 
science about slavery which later, in a ripe political situation, was 
to l)reak out as a great force." And so here, the protest of our 
white friends in the struggle we are making now will serve to keep 
alive in others the sense of right, which will ultimatel}- become a 
great force before which the wrongs from which we are now suf- 
fering will be righted. Silent sympathy is better than no sym- 
pathv; but the sympathy that expresses itself in word and act is 
greatly to be preferred. If you think we are not treated right; 
if vou think that invidious distinctions based upon color, upon 
race ought not to exist, say so ; and say it so loud that all about 
)OU will hear it. This is the request that we make of you. as we 
enter upon another half century of freedom. 

And now just a word more. The struggle before us is a long 
inid hard one; but with faith in God. and faith in ourselves, and 
indomitable perseverance, and the purpose to do right, in spite of 
the forces that are arrayed against us, we need have no fears as to 
the ultimate result. Success is sure to crown our efforts. We are 
not always going to be behind; we are not always going to be dis- 
criminated against; we are not always going to be denied our 
rights. For as Sojourner Truth said. "God is not dead." And 
some day. in his own good time, the right will triumph. As the 
l;oet has expressed it, 

''Right is right since God is God, 
And Right the dav will win." 

What is needed is a New EMANCIPATION PROCLAMA- 
TION — a i)roclamation that will set the white man free from the 
degrading intluence of race prejudice — a ])roclamation that will 
register a decree or i)urpose on the part of the white race to free 
Itself not only from the narrowing lust of gold, but from the still 
more narrowing lust of race hatred and ])roscription. O. for an- 
other and greater Lincoln to s])eak the word of ])ower, — another 
and greater Lincoln to <et the thought and heart of white America 
going in a new and l^etter way — the way of righteousness — the way 
of the fatherhoofl rtf God and the brotherhood of man. In the in- 
.spirccl rect^rd )V(- rCf^d: "TJie wol^ shall dwell \YJth t)]\; lainb, f\n\] 



23 

the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf and the young 
lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 
And the cow and the hear shall feed; their young ones shall lie- 
down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the 
sucking child shall plav on the hole of the asp, and the weaned 
child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt 
nor destroy in all my holy mountain ; for the earth shall be full of 
the knowledge of lehovah as tlie waters cover the sea." Surely 
if this be true; if tliis is a prophecy of what is to be, there is reason 
and good reason to believe that the savage element in the white 
man's nature, which corresponds to the nature of these ferocious 
aninials. and which leads him to devise and execute his various 
schemes of disfranchisement, of segregation, of restricted opportu- 
nities, in order to annoy and degrade us, will yet undergo a change, 
if the wolf and lamb can dwell together, and the lamb be perfectly 
safe, surely the white man in this country is not so absolutely be- 
yond being amenable to reason and common sense and decency as 
to make it impossible, 3ome time in the future, for him and his 
brother in black to dwell together, and the brother in black feel no 
uneasiness, no fear of being molested, or of having his rights in- 
fringed upon by him. The white man, when it comes to the Ne- 
gro -is pretty bad, I know, but 1 cannot believe that he is so hope- 
lessly bad as to render it impossible for the colored man to dwell 
with him and be treated by him as a man and brother. It may ul- 
timately turn out to be true ; but I am not yet willing to believe it. 
It eannot be that this white race, which prides itself upon its su- 
periority to all other races, under this highest test of superiority— 
the ability to accord to every man his right and to treat every man 
as a brother of whatever race or nationality, is going to be found 
so sadly deficient. It is a great race. It has done many wonder- 
ful things. All the greater is the reason, therefore, why it should 
not permit itself to be controlled by such an ignoble spirit. It has 
done, too, many wonderful things to have its greatness marred by 
settling down permanently on the low level of race prejudice. No; 
I cannot believe that the white man is so hopelessly bad, so abso- 
lutely possessed by this demon of race hatred that there is no hon- 
orable future in this country for the colored man. The Tillmans, 
Yardamans. Hoke Smiths are not always going to be the leaders 
of even Southern public sentiment. A better day is coming, with 
truer, saner, wiser leaders. Dr. Josiah Strong, in his last volume, 
"Our World." in the chapter on "The New Race Problem." after 
some remarks on the improbability and the undesirability of blend- 
ing all races into one says,— "If we recognize any plan in creation. 
we must accept a differentiation of the human family as an ex- 
pression of the divine purpose, infinitely wise and benevolent. 
And it behooves us as colaborers together with God to find that 
purpose, if possible, that Ave may work with him and not against 

him." 

"This conclusion affords not the slightest excuse for race an- 
tipathy. The experience of mankind has convinced all peoples 
that close consanguinity must be a bar to marriage; and scientific 



24 

observation seems likely to show that the mixture of races most 
widely divergent is perhaps hardly less a violation of nature. But 
there is in this fact no reason why there should not be as genuine 
respect ami esteem and fellowship between the races as between 
brother and sister; no reason why the spirit of brotherhood which 
obtains in the home should not extend to the family of nations and 
races." And Hamilton W. Mabie, in his article in the Outlook 
for August 2nd on "Americans and the Far East," says: "Race 
differences must be clearly and frankly recognized; economical 
differences must be candidly faced; but race hatred must be driven 
beyond the pale of civilization ; it is a survival of barbarism and it 
must go back where it belongs." 

Tliis great white race will some day, I believe, in its sober second 
thought, recognize the truth of these words; and will augment its 
greatness by emancipating itself from this detestable spirit of race 
liatred. It cannot be that this great white race is always going to 
Ijc content to prostrate itself before this mean and degrading 
spirit. It owes it to itself, as well as to this black race and to all 
the other races to free itself from so debasing an influence. If it 
i<< to maintain its leadership in the world, vmder the ever-growing 
inlluence of Christianity, which knows neither Greek nor Jew, 
barbarian, vScythian bond, nor free, it cannot hope to do so with 
race prejudice inscribed on its banner. It must change, or else it 
will be relegated to the rear. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND 
BROTHERHOOD are the great forces that are to dominate the 
future. The white man may be strong enough to fight the black 
rnan in this country, but he is not strong enough to fight God Al- 
iTiightv and his eternal and inexorable laws of RIGHTEOITS- 
NESS and BROTHERHOOD. These laws will ultimately re- 
make him, or break him and cast him "as rubbish to the void." 
\\'hich shall it be? Let this great white race take warning. 

"Short is the triumph of evil. 

Long is the reign of right. 
The men who win by the aid of sin. 

The nation that rules by might, 
The party that lives by corruption. 

The trickster, the knave, the thief, 
May thrive for a time on the fruits of crime, 

But their seeming success is brief. 

Know that the truth shall triumph, 

That evil shall find its doom ; 
That the cause of right, tho' subdued by might, 

Shall break from the strongest tomb, 
That wrong, tho' it seems to triumph, 

Lasts only for a day, 
While the cause of truth has eternal youth, 

And shall rule o'er the world for aye." 



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